Many chemical reactions involve the production of oxygen or infiltration of the reaction system by oxygen molecules. The reactions and manner in which this happens are well known to the skilled artisan as are the ramifications which include, e.g., undesired chemical and/or electrochemical reactions leading to undesirable, potentially reactive byproducts, oxidation of reactants which are necessary for the desired reaction, and corrosion of the materials used to produce reaction vessels. In certain situations, such as hydrocarbon processing, the build up of excess oxygen is not only a safety risk, but also a cause of revenue loss due to the undesirable depletion of hydrocarbon feedstock as a result of the oxidation of the feedstock, whether the reaction is carried out at ambient or elevated temperatures. The adverse effects can and do occur even when trace amounts of oxygen are present.
Desulfurization of crude oil is an important industrial process, commonly carried out via “hydrotreatment.” Conventional hydrotreatment requires relatively high temperature and pressure parameters, as well as high hydrogen partial pressures to remove organic sulfur. During nonconventional in situ desulfurization processes, organic sulfur compounds are electrocatalytically converted to easily removable sulfur compounds through hydrogenation reactions, while hydrogen is replenished via water molecules, when these are split into hydrogen ions (H+) and oxygen at the anode. The resulting oxygen and its buildup is problematic and of concern, as it is an oxidizer of sulfur and as well as of hydrocarbon feedstock, and a possible cause of combustion of the hydrocarbons.
Further, when oxygen (along with moisture) is present in these systems, it is well known that it may corrode the reactor vessels and associated equipment. Other materials, such as trace metals, acids, salts, bases, charged electrodes and high concentration of H2 under high pressure, can aggravate these problems, especially when moisture is present. When moisture is present, an electrical circuit can be created, resulting in the depletion or degradation of the materials of the reactive vessel and materials which make up the processing equipment.
All of these, as well as other reasons known to the skilled artisan, point to a need to remove the dissolved oxygen from systems, be they aqueous or non-aqueous. Further, if the oxygen could be scavenged and converted into one or more useful materials, this would add value to any of these reaction systems.
Methods for removing oxygen and moisture from reaction systems are known; however, it is also known that these conventional methods frequently become impediments to the processes of interest. Many of these removal methodologies are difficult to implement, and/or are not economically viable. Hence, a methodology to remove oxygen from reaction systems which is non-invasive, simple to implement, and produces a useful product, would be a great advancement in the art.
It is a feature of the invention to provide a method for removing excess oxygen from a reaction system by converting it to a useful product, i.e., hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and thus avoid or alleviate the problems discussed supra. How this is accomplished will be seen in the disclosure which follows.